How to implement a "startreck" technology!

• 35 HD cameras pointed at the subject in a ring
• Different cameras shoot at different angles (like the matrix), to transmit the entire body image
• Cameras being hooked up to the cameras in home base in NY, synchronizing the angles so perspective is right
• Infrared communication
• A 37-inch plasma where the return feed of the combined images are fed back. Useful for a misplaced hair or an unseemly boogar!
• Twenty "computers" are crunching this data in order to make it usable...

and the Result ....LIVE On CNN ... tataaan!



Amaaaazing ... for real!



More on Gizmodo ... in order to know exactly how it all worked! (text above is qouted from Gizmodo)

You can also get to see Cisco's "Musion System" Hologram in this Video

Also from andfaraway.net

PRAGUE!

Well, for those who don't know, I wasn't in town during the 1st half of September, I was on vacation to Romania, as well as a business trip to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

And since i have other posts across my blog about Romania in the archives, lets go and Czech out baby :)

My non-business related business in prague was actually related to Project BiSCA, me and my other 2 colleagues, ehab and fayez participated in a conference entitled “Transtec”, this is an international conference that cares about the evolution of transportation technologies in general, including green cars, human machine interaction, intelligent traffic system, or intelligent transportation systems. And Transtec 2007 was in prague, and BiSCA was a participant in there with a paper entitled by the name of the project “Bus Information, Scheduling, and Control for Amman”. Representing by that Jordan and the entire MENA region

So after a lot of calls, emails, faxes, and whatever you want, in order to get a sponsor for our participation in Prague's Transtec 2007, no body here in Jordan dared to help us, actually, all of our attempts to get sponsorship were completely ignored, and we are talking about big organizations that you read day by day publicity about them and their activities in the media ... yes, they didn't even dare to say “NO”, or “SORRY” .... well except for 1 organization that said they cannot help us since we are not an NGO, and 2 that supposedly tried, and then apologized. So there it was, I got my vacation hooked up with the conference, and did both with my own money.

1st of all, talking about the conference, it was amazing to see how research and development is that well established in some part of the world that is not that far from here! Nor from Romania.

A lot of czech companies, just like AZD Praha, Skoda motors, and others, as well as international companies working in the czech republic, like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Novell, Siemens, and other. Are so cooperative with the technical and technological universities and their students. Not only as supporters and sponsors for the students, but even appreciators for their ideas in the industry, and even trying to involve their research and development departments to cooperate with the students after graduation and with the universities from which they graduated to implement it in the industry.

And By the way, this care of research and development I saw in the Czech republic is claimed to be “POOR”! Come and see Jordan baby...!

one very simple example was that the Traffic light management systems on the streets of Prague is nothing but an implemented university project. One that was well supported by companies in the industry, the local authorities, and even the European Union and Galileo.

The number of people in the conference weren't that much, but the quality of the participants was very high, actually, I was the youngest in there, and we were the only participants with a BS degree! And beside being from the middle east, all of there 3 were positive impressions for the people getting to know about us.

One thing that, I didn't expect, was that each and every person who heard about our project or attend the session was “Impressed”, one Japanese professor was even wondering how come this idea is not appreciated that much in Jordan, when a public transportation operator in his home-town in Japan is willing to apply such a system with all the ideas and services we provide in BiSCA, and is having trouble having someone developing it! Some people from Mott MacDonald were even interested in being consultants for the project's implementation in Amman, and even in being consultants in further related project as traffic management systems and their integration with BiSCA. Do read this GAM, do read this PTRC, do read this CMTC .... Mott MacDonald, the 2nd largest consultants house in the world!

Our paper can be found in the conference's proceeding HERE

Talking about Prague, well, I liked the czech republic in general, though all my pass from the Slovakian borders until prague was a night drive through were i saw nothing :P

Prague, 7:30 AM local time, on the autobahn between Brno and Prague, I look to the left, Oh, its a business companies compound, who is there, Sun Microsystems, Samsung, IBM, Microsoft ... and others...

Yes, you heard me right dear Java Developer, Sun Microsystems :)

well, they also have Oracle, but thats somewhere downtown nearby the Bus and train terminals, I passed by it too ...

and by the way, Oracle has ads on the streets in Prague, seems people out there know whats Oracle, and know what's a CRM :)

in Prague, Public transportation is everywhere ... tram, urban buses, metro....

in Prague, there are cool radio station's :) especially Radio Beat (which is a classic rock radio), and Radio Expres (Prague's Nr 1 Hit music station with a popular American dude doing the morning show in weekdays).

in Prague, love is everywhere, in everything ... people love life, love what they do, love the traffic jams, love listening to that American dude on the radio during the traffic jam, love work ... Yes, I didnt see a single person asking for money! Everyone works, even disabled people, even blind old women ... they sing opera songs on the street ... but they dont beg you for money!

in Prague, women are gorgeous, men are hard-workers, Czech women are not demanding though like our shitty women in here! 2 examples were the following:
a guy, a colleague student, was working a part time job as a “Street sweeper” ... I saw 2 girls trying to hookup with him.
A Man standing in the street as a silent actor, wasn't moving and doing anything, unless you pay him something in that hat. Well, a bunch of czech chicks passed, so he moved “for free” for them trying to get their attention, the girls stopped and started looking and what he is doing... he was kind of “silently acting flirts” ... they became all red flushed, and he air-kissed one girl ... she turned into 250 shades of red :)
i'm just wondering what would have happened to any of those guys above if they were in Jordan .... I'm imagining :(

in Prague, the industry is very well developed, be it technological industry, technical industry, or tourism industry! Jordanian people in tourism, GO AND LEARN! A bus ticket from the deadsea to Amman cannot cost 10 JDs if you want a proper tourism industry!

In Prague, the valtava is awesome ... it carries out the city's love and spreads it out across the town.

In prague, you can see all sort of people getting into public transportation, from business managers, to professors, to students ,, and even couple who keep kissing for over 20 minutes without anyone annoying them or even looking at them (in comparison to the next day where in Amman I saw 4 guys staring at 2 normally dressed girls and saying “Allahomma inni sa2em .. astaghfar allah!) .... and all of those above get into public transportation without having to wait that much, nor fight for a seat (because you will get a fine if you get your butt unto a seat while a child or an old man or woman is standing), nor have their clothes dirty from the seats (in case seated) , nor get confused because the bus or tram is running on a route other than the one displayed on the digital (or even manual) board in front of the public transportation mean ... simply because its not that of an invention to change the board displaying the route for the people outside!

in Prague, they have worst traffic jams than in Amman, amazingly, no body there uses the horn! I guess they figured out it wont get to progress anything in the jam.

In Prague, all the governmental departments are branded.

In prague, garnet can be found more than bread.

In prague, all sorts of bread are delicious :)

in prague, food is delicious :)

in Prague ... I fell in love with a city.

In Prague, i'll be spending my honeymoon one day :) [no more Maldives :P ]

in Prague, I left a piece of me ...... and i will get back to put another piece!

The Valtava river

The Old Chapel

The Astronomical Clock (It works!)

Karlov Most (King Charles Bridge)

Karlov Most from the opposite view, including the king's castle up the hill to the right ... by the way, I used to pass this bridge around 4 times a day :) It is one of the 1st things I fell in love with in Prague :)

<_errorwear_>

Interesting!
Check http://www.errorwear.com/ to embrace your computer problems ;)

Project Looking Glass 3D, a Reality Dream!

Sun Microsystems, world's leader Server Supplier & the creator of the greatest Object Oriented language in Programming History “JAVA”, is the one behind the project that is to move desktop PCs usability & interface to the next level.


Project Looking Glass 3D is the 1st Operating System with an entire 3D world of display (I HOPE THIS TIME IMAGES ARE APPEARING ON JORDAN PLANET TOO!), bringing a richer user experience to the desktop and applications via 3D windowing and visualization capabilities. It is an open source development project based on and evolved from Sun Microsystems' advanced technology project. It supports running unmodified existing applications in a 3D space (That is in Linux/Solaris session mode, Just like im doing now writing this to you), as well as APIs for 3D window manager and application development.

The nice thing about the whole thing, rather than having a 3D operating System that will turn our PC into a .....let's say Small virtual world that can be called “a world!” , it is that this project is an Open Source Software where it's not built only by Java specialists at sun but a whole community that builds up its vision for a completely new world closer to the users community that they their selves are part of after all!

Yes, even YOU can be part of this project through out your java.net account;)

the underdevelopment project is indeed the graphical 3D interface which is built using Java. I personally dont think the C written kernel for an operating system is such a big deal for SUN since we all know how performant & wonderful Sun's Solaris' Kernel is.

The LG3D project indeed uses J3D API & makes benefit of JAI libraries (Java Advanced Imaging), all with some widely “canvasic” imagination of a developer part of the project ;) (& believe me this “canvasic” imagination is just so brain stormy since I've been programming Java 3D canvases just over a coupla months ago!)

So, now since it's a developers community, developer's will need to have some developers editions, that u can enjoy as a user as well ;)

Yup! U can run Project Looking Glass on your desktop too!
when I've did a seminar about LG3D last semester in my GUI course release 0.6.1 was available then, & only on Linux & Solaris platforms, whilst now release 0.7.1 is available for Windows Platforms too!

All u have to do is to go to:

https://lg3d.dev.java.net/

here u will be able to find all the requirements, downloads & installation note to get this 3D world running on your desktop!

in short, the requirements are: J2SE 1.5, J3D 1.4, JAI 1.1.2 & finally LG3D it self :)

LG3D will be running as a window in your operating system since its a developers version, on Solaris & Linux platforms u can switch to text mode turning off ur KDE or GNOME interface & running the LG3D Session, now in the session mode u'll be able to run even normal 2D applications that are installed on your PC appearing in 3D shapes & part of the whole env as well .... COOOOOOOOOOL!

Performance assessment: release 0.6.1 worked very well in dev “That is development” mode on linux fedora 2 with me, it worked perfect on 3amr's 2 Ghz Cellaron with 128 MB RAM even believe it or not! but we couldnt run it in session mode since it refused all the keyboards we have attached! Junk keyboards in this country :P

release 0.7.1 was first tried on Windows at its release by me, on my home 2Ghz P4 with 384 MB RAM it worked a lil bit slow, I've tried it on a 3Ghz P4 HT with 512 RAM & still didnt work as perfect as it did on Linux with a Cellaron machine!!!!

Now the WOW thingy is that it ran on my P4 that has an intel 64MB extreme graphics 1 VGA running the newly released Fedora Cora 4 (WHICH IM IN LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE With) despite this VGA isnt 3D accelerated as Nvidia Gforce or ATI Radon, note that it didnt work with the Fedora 2 on my machine but on Amr’s,while now with FC4 its like Fire....damn this 3D environment is running speeder than Windows XP with minimum services on my PC ;P ... Thanks Mr Kefah for Fedora Core 4:)

& here’s the great thing now...
TARAAAAANN, Im running it in session mode now while writing this post.. yes, i turned of KDE & ran LG3D on raw kernel from the text mode, & im currently running Open Office 2.0 (which is a 2D application installed on my Linux Box) ,& YES THE KEYBOARD IS WORKING, Not only this,but also Listening to Tori Amos’s Latest CD (The Beekeeper) using KsCD “Another 2D Linux Application”;) & God I Love it !

I think my new Task now is to modify ANACODIA’s code in order to add Looking Glass 3D session option at log-in a long with KDE & GNOME :) “Any Assistance out there is appreciated”
Man I Love it!

It’s finally to notice that no session mode is available on Windows platform. Hehe,dream on Actually ;) I have actually made a small demo of looking glass during the Linux event @ hu earlier this august ,it wasn't professional as i have introduced it in the GUI course Seminar,we ran LG3D 0.7.1 on Linux Suse 9.3 (we didnt have Fedora Core 4 Then) on a 3 Ghz P4-HT Acer Brand machine with 512 MB of RAM with a normal non-3D accelerated Intel 64 MB VGA, but it didnt work as performant as it is running on Fedora 4 .. I mean,now running LG3D in session mode on Fedora 4’s kernel with 2D applications running is way much more speeder than the dev mode ran then on Suse,despite I have exactly the same VGA & 1 Ghz less CPU speed, not forgetting the HT differences! So Run it on Linux RedHat Fedora Core 4,,,,,,, & ENJOY!

PS: a Live CD is also available on SourceForge.net

Pre-IT for Dummies (Part 2)

Continuing my IT-Dummies advisory plan that I’ve started before

This post will get into IT jargon, since the University seats results are coming by the end of the week,those that will have the IT future known by then will be interested in this post.

Each & every IT student must know those definitions in order to deal with them on his upcoming life..at least not to be surprised by their real definition in the “REAL WORD” ,,, totally away from computer freak-ness claimed at school times ((hehe,,dont u love it when parents make their self proud saying : “Wallah , mashalla 3alei ibni,, besammem mawage3 3al internet” of course using MS word templates & Art Objects ;P .... ma 3alena! ))

Here’s the must have IT dictionary for Dummies :)

ASCII:
The control code for all beginning programmers and those who would become computer literate. Etymologically, the term has come down as a contraction of the often-repeated phrase "ascii and you shall receive."
-- Robb Russon


Bug, n.:
An aspect of a computer program which exists because the programmer was thinking about Jumbo Jacks or stock options when s/he wrote the program.


buzzword, n:
The fly in the ointment of computer literacy.


Cache:
A very expensive part of the memory system of a computer that no one is supposed to know is there.


Command, n.:
Statement presented by a human and accepted by a computer in such a manner as to make the human feel as if he is in control.


Compuberty, n:
The uncomfortable period of emotional and hormonal changes a computer experiences when the operating system is upgraded and a sun4 is put online sharing files.


Guru, n:
A computer owner who can read the manual.


Hardware, n.:
The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.


IBM:
[International Business Machines Corp.] Also known as Itty Bitty Machines or The Lawyer's Friend. The dominant force in computer marketing, having supplied worldwide some 75% of all known hardware and 10% of all software. To protect itself from the litigious envy of less successful organizations, such as the US government, IBM employs 68% of all known ex-Attorneys' General.


Information Center, n.:
A room staffed by professional computer people whose job it is to tell you why you cannot have the information you require.


Minicomputer:
A computer that can be afforded on the budget of a middle-level manager.


Office Automation:
The use of computers to improve efficiency in the office by removing anyone you would want to talk with over coffee.


On-line, adj.:
The idea that a human being should always be accessible to a computer.


Performance:
A statement of the speed at which a computer system works. Or rather, might work under certain circumstances. Or was rumored to be working over in Jersey about a month ago.


pixel, n.:
A mischievous, magical spirit associated with screen displays. The computer industry has frequently borrowed from mythology: Witness the sprites in computer graphics, the demons in artificial intelligence, and the trolls in the marketing department.


program, n.:
A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input into error messages. tr.v. To engage in a pastime similar to banging one's head against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward.


prototype, n.:
First stage in the life cycle of a computer product, followed by pre-alpha, alpha, beta, release version, corrected release version, upgrade, corrected upgrade, etc. Unlike its successors, the prototype is not expected to work.


Software, n.:
Formal evening attire for female computer analysts.


Timesharing, n:
An access method whereby one computer abuses many people.


Turnaucka's Law:
The attention span of a computer is only as long as its electrical cord.


user, n.:
The word computer professionals use when they mean "idiot."


computer professional, n.:
The phrase hackers use when they mean "idiot."

Assessing My Linux Event at HU

Ouh!what a day!I think even in hell you might work less!
The Event was fine but not as aimed by yours truly organizer, I just cannot imagine the fact why no-body works or want to be help, but claim that they are making everything.

In this post i'll be revealing facts that no1 knew till the moment, as well as obvious facts for each&every1 who was around while i working for the whole thing.
I'll be simply talking about each & everything i didnt like in my small event which was bigger once upon a time.

1- The Faculty of engineering Dean was problem Nr. 1.0.1 & the IEEE councilor was problem Nr. 1.x.x! The dean that has nothing related to technology was the reason of Postponing the event 3 times, minimizing the event to 1 jammed day, & changing our schedule even!!!!!

Some times caring about student that have lab exams! or not to get students bored,& others because he have no time or he's busy, & YARETOO he came!!!! after all those postpones he didnt even come, but also didnt send to any department the (TA3MEEM) he said that it's his authority to send them to the departments & Drs in the engineering faculty (Which didnt happen till this moment! despite its weekend!)& that our invitations can be sent to Drs & Departments outside the Engineering Faculty like my Fac of IT ,,,, not only that, but he didnt even tell the theater employees about our event so we kept till the last 15 minutes looking for those employees who i dont know what they do till this moment since I got into the uni!!!!!! & we didnt even configure the LAN IP address since Ammar was supposed to have used the internet during his session.

& The bigger chain of problems is our councilor who's more like a person that want to build a relation with the dean with this occasion,,,, I mean FOR GODS SAKE .... DONT PHUNK WITH STH YOU DONT KNOW OR CARE!!! LET US DO IT OUR WAY! DONT SCREW IT UP SHOWING YOUR THE GUY WITH RESPONSIBILITIES!!!

2- the IEEE councilor! believe it, he called me at 11.15 that asking why im still not at the theater, & That im not organized & this is impolite & I dont know what else of those crappy stuff,,,,,
I mean, Hello, I'm working, I'm not setting & Having fun, I've been working for a coupla days till 3 PM in the lab, & in the day of event I skipped all my lectures just to finish the work... besides, only at that time my colleague ahmad (who is the only from the IEEE committee that got my back & gave me a hand in organizing the event) got the theater employee,,,,, Do U know dear reader when did he get in..... AT 12.10 PM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Chief of my department (Dr Khaled Tahat) was there at 11.40 (who apologized for me when inviting him that he'll be late for 10 minutes)
Mr Kefah was lost on the highway & Got at 11.50, Mr Ammar Ibrahim who got Lost & got back to Amman to get back on the way to our uni also got at 12,,,,,,, ALL BEOFRE HIS EXCELLANCY COUNCILOR!!!

Thank God Kefah & Ammar didnt get as the councilor wanted at 10.45 !!!! KAN INFADA7NA!

During the Sessions he was acting like an instructor in a lecture!!! Hello!!!! We Are ... he tried to control & Change some stuff during the session, But NO WAY BABY.... Schedule Shift Doesn't mean change, but SHIFT,,Maybe squeezing! BUT NOT CHANGE! DUH~!

it was also obvious that he was just shaking his head trying to show impressive & exciting while I BET he was barely understanding whats going on!!!!!

hehe, 1 funny thing was him saying (& Trying to act dominant at the same time) commenting on Ammar's Session that: “this is what we want from our graduates, creating big systems not Games & stuff like that” ..... WHAT THE HELL!!!! Game Programming is one of the most complected & professional projects in the industry !!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Ma 3alena!

3- Reda Fedda, The IEEE Boss who came at 11.15 yet wanna check his presentation in the lab!!!! Fortunate for him that i didnt see the presentation about IEEE then since I was busy guiding Ammar & Kefah .... Inconsistency, Very Very Very Bad Background, Very ugly!!!! & With “Microsoft Certified” & “Cisco Partner” logos at the end of the presentation in a very bad resolution!!!! For A reason that i dont know why till the moment!! he claims it's to be a surprise for training courses “They” will be preparing!!
I dont know what kind of committee is this where individual say the wanna do sth for their benefits by the name of the whole group! & where sth is suggested to the whole committee left for just 1 individual to work for it,, just like what happened in this event where I was the only 1 in charge of it despite it was discussed by the committee long time ago,, even before i was member of it.

moving to the facts, His presentation was......... Oh my god!! what an English language !!! oh dear me ,, oh dear me!!

4- since May I've assigned for committee members the mission to look for a sponsor for the event to cover our break costs ... they didnt even look for any,despite i provided them with contacts for different corps that may help us in a way or another. It was funny that I was just around the corner of getting sponsorship from a cold drinks company just 2 days before the event, when i discovered a marketing company who's responsible for promotional campaigns for PEPSI, so it wasnt PEPSI the right place to go & ask for sponsorship but a marketing company... I guess If i've discovered this company a week before at least I would have got sth out of them, the marketing company cared & treated me with full respect, but the time was the factor of failure in here since they had to decide & reorganize their teams & quantities with PEPSI in less than 24 hours. i will indeed wont miss the opportunity next times (Yes NEXT TIMES;)

----
ehh ... I guess i've spoke out my heart, lets move to the mind ;)
hehe...

I liked the event! The theater was crowded,some people left during Kefah's session (seems they werent that interested) ... Kefah's session was great as far as I was around, & as far as the feedback i got from people around there, that is since every1 was there mainly to get whats linux & the open source culture behind the whole thing of using linux & Open source software as an alternative.

Maybe it was a lil bit boring for those Linux Geeks ;) but they didnt lift cause they knew what the whole thing is about... this is what i like to call GNU Ethics in Linux People ;)

My session was about Project Looking Glass 3D from Sun Microsystems, which will be the 1st 3D Operating System ever.. I'll be talking about it later in a separated post ..
The funny Thing is that i was trying to waste time during my short session since the cold drinks break wasnt ready yet, I guess the public figured out i was coming with a new speech every 2 minutes.. I was waiting for ahmad to get thru the theaters door to save me & finish up my session & get out for the break... hehe ,, it was funny also that when i got outside the theater to get my Mountain Due can,, surprise surprise! All Out;)))) hehe .... the yet funnier thing that from those 120+ audience in before the break only 40-50 got back after it!!!! I got them mountain due to refresh so they wake up a lil bit & get Back..a thing that didnt really happen unfortunately!

After the break, Ammar got us a very exiting PHP session, keeping, for the 3rd session in a row the focus on the Community behind Open Source Software Development.

By the end of the event 3 question were asked & the answers were rewarded with Looking Glass 3D Live CDs.

Questions werent that tough, Whats GNU, Whats LAMP, & whats the bad habit we did during the whole session (which was logging as root thru the graphical mode).

Not forgetting to mention, Mr Kefah provided us with a coupla distributions: Fedora 4 & CentOS 4.1, as well as his white paper about Open Source.

Finally, I wanna thank Mr Kefah & Mr Ammar for their efforts, & for telling me that the event was pleasant & “Well Organized” !!!!! hehe, when Ammar told me that, i said : “WHAT ?!!!!!!!!!!”.

Yaman came with Ammar but I didnt figure out he's abul Yumon but after he left!!!!!!!!!! I dunno, i guess there was a lot of noise around when ammar introduced me to him And/Or being in my 3ajga before & during the beginning of the event was the reason of my mind be somewhere else .... hehe,,& I was wondering during the event why Yaman & Jad didnt come tho they were expected to :PPPPP

I tag each & every reader that was there to feed me back with his/her comments, suggestions & critics. espicially Kefah & Ammar.

non assessing details will soon be found on www.ieeehu.org , along with pictures of the event hopefully.

I hope this would have been a small start for a big movement hopefully, even if it's from a small Nr of people. Thanks again for Mr Kefah & Mr Ammar, for every1 who was around there, & I wish the best of Luck to My Fellows & colleagues at PSUT in there Linux event that they are currently still “cooking” ;)

in parallel with todays Linux Event @ HU!

Free Ope rating Systems Alternatives

"http://www.aros.org/" ---> Amiga Research OS
"http://www.archlinux.org/" ---> Arch Linux
"http://www.atheos.cx/" ---> AtheOS
"http://www.bebits.com/app/2680">Be OS Personal
"http://www.maxos.com/" ---> BearOps Linux
"http://www.lynuxworks.com/" ---> BlueCat Linux
"http://brix-os.sourceforge.net/" ---> Brix
"http://cefarix.sourceforge.net/" ---> Cefarix
"http://web.chaosdev.org/" ---> Chaos
"http://clicker.sourceforge.net/" ---> Clicker32
"http://www.closedbsd.org/" ---> ClosedBSD
"http://en.conectiva.com/" ---> Conectiva Linux
"http://counterpoise.sourceforge.net/" ---> Counterpoise
"http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/Cpm/" ---> CP/M
"http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/" ---> Darwin
"http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/" ---> Debian GNU/HURD
"http://www.debian.org/" ---> Debian GNU/Linux
"http://www.debian.org/ports/netbsd/" ---> Debian GNU/NetBSD
"http://dingos.pointlessmovement.net/" ---> dingOS
"http://www.dataphone.se/~dragon/thomas/dragon/" ---> DragonLinux
"http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/" ---> eCos
"http://www.engardelinux.org/" ---> EnGarde Linux
"http://erika.sssup.it/" ---> ERIKA
"http://www.eros-os.org/" ---> EROS
"http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/fiasco/" ---> Fiasco
"http://flightlinux.gsfc.nasa.gov/" ---> FlightLinux
"http://www.freebsd.org/" ---> FreeBSD
"http://www.freedos.org/" ---> FreeDOS
"http://gazos.sourceforge.net/" ---> GazOS
"http://geekos.sourceforge.net/" ---> GeekOS
"http://www.deltasoft.com/" ---> GEM
"http://gemini.sourceforge.net/" ---> Gemini Nucleus
"http://www.gentoo.org/" ---> Gentoo Linux
"http://www.lesbian.mine.nu/" ---> GNU/Lesbian Linux
"http://www.hancom.com/" ---> Hancom Linux
"http://www.immunix.org/" ---> Immunix
"http://www.boycottmicrosoft.net/jamd/" ---> JAMD Linux
"http://www.jblinux.net/" ---> JBLinux
"http://www.kaladix.org/" ---> Kaladix Linux
"http://www.knoppix.org/" ---> Knoppix Linux Live
"http://www.tummy.com/krud/" ---> KRUD
"http://www.guiadohardware.info/linux/kurumin/" ---> Kurumin Linux
"http://lainos.sourceforge.net/" ---> LainOS
"http://www.libranet.com/" ---> LibraNet Linux
"http://www.linuxantarctica.com/" ---> Linux Antarctica
"http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/" ---> Linux From Scratch
"http://www.mandrake-linux.com/en/" ---> Linux-Mandrake
"http://www.linuxrouter.org/" ---> Linux Router Project
"http://www.lutelinux.com/" ---> LuteLinux
"http://www.lycoris.com/" ---> Lycoris Desktop/LX
"http://www.menuetos.org/" ---> Menuet
"http://www.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/" ---> Minix
"http://www.mklinux.org/" ---> MkLinux
"http://www.themoebius.org.uk/" ---> Mobius
"http://modulos.sourceforge.net/" ---> ModulOS
"http://www.momonga-linux.org/" ---> Momonga Linuxd
"http://www.mvista.com/" ---> Monte Vista Linux
"http://www.morphos.de/" ---> MorphOS
"http://www.netbsd.org/" ---> NetBSD
"http://newos.sourceforge.net/" ---> NewOS
"http://www.oberon.ethz.ch/" ---> Oberon
"http://odin-os.sourceforge.net/" ---> Odin
"http://open-beos.sourceforge.net/" ---> OpenBeOS
"http://www.openbsd.org/" ---> OpenBSD
"http://oppcos.sourceforge.net/" ---> OppcOS
"http://www.ibiblio.org/peanut/" ---> Peanut Linux
"http://www.picobsd.org/" ---> PicoBSD
"http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/" ---> Plan 9
"http://www.geocities.com/the_real_sz/" ---> PM_SZ_OS
"http://www.poweros.de/" ---> PowerOS
"http://www.qnx.com/" ---> QNX
"http://rdos.net/eng/" ---> RDOS
"http://www.redflag-linux.com/eindex.html">Red Flag Linux
"http://www.reactos.com/" ---> ReactOS
"http://www.redhat.com/" ---> Red Hat Linux
"http://www.rocklinux.org/" ---> RockLinux
"http://rome.sourceforge.net/" ---> Rome
"http://www.rtems.com/RTEMS/rtems.html">RTEMS
"http://shark.sssup.it/" ---> S.Ha.R.K
"http://www.skyos.org/" ---> SkyOS
"http://www.slackware.com/" ---> Slackware Linux
"http://www.sot.com/" ---> SOT Linux
"http://www.ibiblio.org/spinix/" ---> Spinix
"http://www.stampede.org/" ---> Stampede Linux
"http://www.suse.com/" ---> SuSE Linux
"http://syllable.sourceforge.net/" ---> Syllable
"http://tinfoilhat.shmoo.com/" ---> Tinfoil Hat Linux
"http://www.turbolinux.com/" ---> TurboLinux
"http://sourceforge.net/projects/uuu/" ---> Unununium
"http://www.vnos.net/" ---> Visual Network OS
"ftp://ftp.zendo.com/vsta/" ---> VSTa
"http://www.winehq.com/" ---> WINE
"http://www.winlinux.net/" ---> WinLinux
"http://www.xandros.com/" ---> Xandros
"http://www.xteamlinux.com.cn/english/" ---> XTeam Linux
"http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/" ---> Yellow Dog Linux
"http://www.yggdrasil.com/" ---> Yggdrasil Linux
"http://zealos.sourceforge.net/" ---> ZealOS
"http://www.yellowtab.com/" ---> ZetaOS

Commercial Operating Systems Alternatives

"http://www.ibm.com/servers/aix/" ---> AIX
"http://www.amiga.com/" ---> Amiga OS
"http://www.bsdi.com/" ---> BSD/OS
"http://www.ecomstation.com/" ---> eComStation
"http://www.hp.com/" ---> HP-UX
"http://www.software.ibm.com/os/dos">IBM PC-DOS
"http://www.sgi.com/" ---> IRIX
"http://www.lindows.com/" ---> Lindows
"http://www.lynuxworks.com/" ---> LynxOS
"http://www.apple.com/macosx/" ---> Mac OS X
"http://www.apple.com/macosx/server/" ---> Mac OS X Server
"http://www.novell.com/" ---> Novell NetWare
"http://www.openvms.compaq.com/" ---> OpenVMS
"http://www.software.ibm.com/os/warp/" ---> OS/2 Warp
"http://www.phatlinux.com/" ---> PhatLinux
"http://www.caldera.com/products/openserver/" ---> SCO OpenServer
"http://www.risc-os.com/" ---> RISC-OS
"http://www.sun.com/solaris/" ---> Solaris
"http://www.tru64.com/" ---> Tru64 UNIX

Office Software Alternatives

"http://www.software602.com/" ---> 602 Pro PC Suite
"http://www.abisource.com/" ---> AbiWord
"http://www.ability.com/" ---> Ability Office
"http://www.apple.com/appleworks/" ---> AppleWorks
"http://www.e-press.com/" ---> EasyOffice 2001
"http://www.gobe.com/" ---> GoBe Productive
"http://www.koffice.org/" ---> KOffice
"http://www.lotus.com/" ---> Lotus SmartSuite
"http://www.openoffice.org/" ---> OpenOffice
"http://www.ragtime-online.com/" ---> Ragtime
"http://www.softmaker.de/" ---> Softmaker Office
"http://www.sun.com/staroffice/" ---> StarOffice
"http://www.thinkfree.com/" ---> ThinkFree Office
"http://www.wordperfect.com/" ---> WordPerfect Office 2000
"http://en.hancom.com/index.html/" ---> WorkDesk Office

OS Pub Beer (Part 2)

As promised, & having an Open Source event just around the corner, here's the Unix Beer Description upon high public demand ;)


Unix Beer: Comes in several different brands, in cans ranging from 8 oz. to 64 oz. Drinkers of Unix Beer display fierce brand loyalty, even though they claim that all the different brands taste almost identical.

Sometimes the pop-tops break off when you try to open them, so you have to have your own can opener around for those occasions, in which case you either need a complete set of instructions, or a friend who has been drinking Unix Beer for several years.

BSD stout: Deep, hearty, and an acquired taste. The official brewer has released the recipe, and a lot of home-brewers now use it.

Hurd beer: Long advertised by the popular and politically active GNU brewery, so far it has more head than body. The GNU brewery is mostly known for printing complete brewing instructions on every can, which contains hops, malt, barley, and yeast ... not yet fermented.

Linux brand: A recipe originally created by a drunken Finn in his basement, it has since become the home-brew of choice for impecunious brewers and Unix beer-lovers worldwide, many of whom change the recipe.

POSIX ales: Sweeter than lager, with the kick of a stout; the newer batches of a lot of beers seem to blend ale and stout or lager.

Solaris brand: A lager, intended to replace Sun brand stout. Unlike most lagers, this one has to be drunk more slowly than stout.

Sun brand: Long the most popular stout on the Unix market, it was discontinued in favor of a lager.

SysV lager: Clear and thirst-quenching, but lacking the body of stout or the sweetness of ale.

Pre-IT for Dummies (Part 1)

dear "graduators" from tawjihi... who saw nothing from life yet with what the claim (Giant Tawjihi),,,, for those of you willing to get into IT in their orientation of life choosing to Study IT for the next 4 years or so in 1 of the Universities, I'm giving you some hints in what you'll be facing during those next years.
1st of all I'll be showing you the way so that u'll decide weather you think you'll be able to study IT.

<<<

*** DO YOU HAVE A RESTLESS URGE TO PROGRAM? ***
Do you want the instant respect that comes from being able to use technical terms that nobody understands?
Do you want to strike fear and loathing into the hearts of DP managers everywhere?

*** IS PROGRAMMING FOR YOU? ***
Programming is not for everyone. But, if you have the desire to learn, we can help you get started. All you need is the Famous Programmers' Course and enough money to keep those lessons coming month after month.

*** TAKE THE FREE APTITUDE TEST ***
To help determine if you are qualified to be a programmer, take a moment to try this simple test:
(1) Write down the numbers from zero to nine and the first six letters of the alphabet (Hint: 0123456789ABCDEF).
(2) Whose picture is on the back of a twenty-dollar bill?
(3) What is the state capital of Idaho?
If you managed to read all three questions without wondering why we asked them, you may have a future as a computer programmer.

>>>

2nd , I'll be giving you a snapshot of some expected questions u'll be facing in the IT specialty exams during those 4 years of your study:

<<<

COMPUTER SCIENCE (Mostly OOP1 course, Algorithms, & Architecture exams)

Inside your desk you'll find a listing of the DEC/VMS operating system in IBM 1710 machine code. Show what changes are necessary to convert this code into a UNIX Berkeley 7 operating system. Prove that these fixes are bug free and run correctly. You should gain at least 150% efficiency in the new system. (You should take no more than 10 minutes on this question.)

////

MATHEMATICS (this is the 1st year calculus course that everyone claim its just a piece of cake since its the same mathematics you get in Tawjihi,,,, Holly Crap!)

If X equals PI times R^2, construct a formula showing how long it would take a fire ant to drill a hole through a dill pickle, if the length-girth ratio of the ant to the pickle were 98.17:1.

////

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (Software Engineering courses mainly! SWE1, System Analysis, Software Design, Maybe GUI design & Implementation)

Describe the Universe. Give three examples.
>>>

On my Next post i'll be giving you a bunch of Jargon each & every so-called IT-er should know before getting into the industry.So that keep them in you IT-er dictionary ;)
Enjoy!

Open Door Linux Workshop @ HU .... Finally!

details on www.ieeehu.org

This event is fully organized by yours truly ,,,, Yeah,, 1 hand may clap sometimes,, Hardly !
Wish me luck!

OS Beers Pub (Part 1)

Upon Jad's Post about “World's first open source beer recipe”, I came by some (Technical Recipes) of Operating Systems beers, if You allow me to call it that way ;)

I found those very funny, & to keep you in passion for knowing more, I'm starting with the “yakee” Windows Beers in this post, continuing with more in later post ;)
& Hey Check out Unix Beer on my Next Post coz it RoXX.... hmm, or shall i keep it the last!?

Windows 3.1 Beer:
The world's most popular. Comes in a 16-oz. can that looks a lot like Mac Beer's. Requires that you already own a DOS Beer.
Claims that it allows you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously, but in reality you can only drink a few of them, very slowly, especially
slowly if you are drinking the Windows Beer at the same time. Sometimes, for apparently no reason, a can of Windows Beer will explode when you open it.

Windows 95 Beer:
A lot of people have taste-tested it and claim it's wonderful. The can looks a lot like Mac Beer's can, but tastes more like Windows 3.1 Beer. It comes in 32-oz. cans, but when you look inside, the cans only have 16 oz. of beer in them. Most people will probably keep drinking Windows 3.1 Beer until their friends try Windows 95 Beer and say they like it. The ingredients list, when you look at the small print, has some of the same ingredients that come in DOS beer, even though the manufacturer claims that this is an entirely new brew.

Windows NT Beer:
Comes in 32-oz. cans, but you can only buy it by the truckload. This causes most people to have to go out and buy bigger refrigerators. The can looks just like Windows 3.1 Beer's, but the company promises to change the can to look just like Windows 95 Beer's -- after Windows 95 beer starts shipping. Touted as an "industrial strength" beer, and suggested only for use in bars.

Jordan's IT Companies, Nothing But ****!

As I've already said before in 1 of the posts, i'll be discussing in this post the suffer I had along with some of my colleagues trying to get training during this summer in IT companies in Jordan.

1st of all, just to tell U, Training for IT students in our college is optional , therefore, from our 2002 class only 4 students dare to try looking for training for this summer, including yours truly.

being optional, training hunt for us is more like looking for a Job, which's good to be honest with u, it makes u more familiar with the suffer u'll have 1 year or less later! we got our CVs ready, a big list of companies with their contact Nrs & emails, Recommendations from the lecturers, Mobile Phones Ready & heavily charged, Amman's urban transport routes' map Ready, our feet ready for long walks ... & HERE WE COME!

yeah, we were all very excited about the whole thing, we all were aiming high in the sky... but ...
BANG!
what a slam in the face, here we are now after 2.5 months of continuous search (having started with the whole issue since the beginning of May) :

FAIEZ: Looked even for companies non member in INTAJ & still nothing.

AMR: no summer courses,no training,,, just waking daily after mid day still hoping for 1 of his WASTA's to call, despite they all ZA7LAGOOLO along with his WASTAs.

EHAB: haven't I told u!? he gave up wayyyy ago, since June!

ME: .......... no comment!

allow me here to tell u some stories that happened between each & every 1 of us, since we were looking each separately of course, between us & some Jordanian “Te5nology” companies members in INTAJ, those are not all the companies of course, those are just (THE FUNNY) list! other companies mainly apologized thru the phone when calling them, or at least their secretaries did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is Jordan, a country ruled by Secretaries rather than Professionals who are to busy in launch meetings in which they “mainly” decide when the next meeting should be!

– Javna: for those who don't know, this company is situated in the industrial City / Al Baiader! I don't know if they have AMD tyres coz my machine is Intel :P they unfortunately said, I read : “sorry, we have already ONE trainee, we can't have more!”.

– Aregon: Those are a very serious IT / Business group consisting of 4 companies, we had to take a date to visit the company & bring personal photos along with the CV, being there we had a 9 pages exam & form that we had to fill, the exam was more about self-esteem & personality tests, IQ, & english exams.
Both Me & Faiez had the chance to apply for this company. They never called us even. grrrr, I want my photos back !

– NCR: those guys transferred our phone call to sth called (The Maintenance Department) to discuss this issue with them !!!!! WE ARENT BROKEN GUYS!

– National Technology Corp: those too have a Maintenance department in charge of hiring & training, after they switched the phone call between offices for about 3 minutes, an automated Central Voice said: “Ur phone call must end now!” & shut the line!

– Integrant: which is a US based company! who ever (TEEEET) lady who answered my call simply replied: “La2 7abibi, ma fee 3enna tadrib” & Shut the phone on my face!
I felt I'm an 8th grade school boy or sth!
upon that, having the managers email from the Intaj website, I dropped him a line, saying in it that I'm sending the CV thru email coz of the incident that happened with me.... no reply till now!

– Fastlink: Respect to the company the trains the biggest Nr of Students in Jordan, despite our believe that we have approximately nothing to do in telecom companies but we said to give it a shot, we have been accepted to come & apply in OCTOBER, so that we MIGHT get training NEXT SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

– Mobilecom: only Amr tried this 1, convincing us not even to dare to try,,, the 1st say : Yeah, no problem, consider ur self in, so bring us the official paper “KETAB” from ur dean, Amr brought it, then they said, no way, u must have at least 3-4 certifications (or as they told him: “6ash7a” )to train here... so Amr of course used the final method: WASTA , a WASTA that he can depend on as he said... ZA7LAGOOLO!

– Umniah: yup, I dared for it too, I went to Mr Michale Dagher's office before the company had placed it's logo on the Building all of u know to be Umniah's Headquarter. the guys at Michale's office (which is located in the culture street by the way) welcomed me & gave me the Direct Nr of the HR department, & told me about the Headquarter building. So, I called the HR, the lady answered with 1 word: “It's Full”, I've explained to her that I don't wanna work not even in the Customer Care, it's just that I'm a trainee ,,, she kept silent for about 30 secs & said again : “Aham, It's Full!” & shut the phone!
after this phone call with about 3 hours I was at Umniah's Headquarters, guess what, they have put a paper at the door that this guy (Me) is not allowed for Training Apply inside nor any trainee at all! I've written a letter at that moment explaining why I've chosen this company & the capabilities 3G tech offers & my visions about it .... yada yada ... & appended it to My CV & left it at the door ..... I guess it made it to the closest bin after i left from there!

– ABUL HAJ Center Companies: in Abul Haj Center there are 12 companies, Faiez got them all in 1 shot! none of them even accepted to take the CV from him! Gosh, they dont have Trash Bins even!

– Menhaj: Financial problems, they only fire , don't hire!

– Maktoob.com: Faiez Tried those out last September, despite the fact he was still just getting into the 3rd year, the guy had fair enough knowledge & skills in Web prog, & powerful in OOP & methodologies. They accepted him, but guess for what task?! can I get any Ideas dear readers ,,,, U wont get it , I guarantee! He assigned him to check the discussion forums every day & erase the posts with in proper language & Bad words !!!!! ah, and delete the emails coming to the suggestions area!!
I Mean,,, what the Hell! He quitted after 4 or 5 days..!

– ITG: Now I don't know what's the real story behind us not getting training in there!? we applied (Both Me & Faiez), they called, asked what we like, called again cooperating with us about the times we can be available. & even called that they'll be soon calling us to confirm when to start! Then, simply abandoned us! by coincidence both me & Faiez happened to had gone bored & decided (without cooperating) to check what's the deal since they didnt call back for over 10 days after when they were supposed to, Faiez went in Person, I called ....WE WERE BOTH TOLD THAT: They took trainees already long time ago, at a moment they said (Are You Sure U have applied to THIS Company!) ,,, & finally declaring with proud that they took already TOW trainees & we're not Them apparently !!!! DUH! They took a graphics student & one that “knows” ASP.NET as they told Faiez ... WHAT!?!!!!! Graphics!!!!! What about 3D Canvas Programming, AI, Sun Certified Programmers, PHP, Oracle, Linux & Unix Platform experience (since they deliver products on those platforms) , Software Engineering tools use, Software Design Patterns Experience, HCI & experience in Customer Social & Psychological interaction with SW & GUI !!! what about .. .. .. .. .. WHERE THE HELL IS MY CV COZ I WANNA BURN IT ... I got out of minds writing this post & I Dont wanna continue .... HELL YA I NEED TRAINNING !

KsCD – The Smartest CD Player EVER!

If u happen to have Linux, with a KDE Graphical Interface, check your programs Menu or packages again coz U might just Have it!

KsCD is one heck of a smart Powerful CD player software, provided by KDE, despite it's a very simple small Software that does nothing but playing Audio CDs, It's not a MultiMedia Player. I really couldn't find any MM Win32 Software that has this specialized power in Playing Audio CDs. AT ALL!

here's what is sooooo good about it:
– Scratched skippy CD? No Problem, KsCD has that strong Control upon the CD drive Hardware making the best out of it. Many of My old Rewind CD-R CDs that are running Badly on Softwares like Jet Audio & Windows Media Player, not to mention regular CD players & Diskmans that give an error at start up, Just Go Perfect on KsCD, I can still remember how impressed the 1st time I ran a CD on it on My Mandrake Linux.
– on Any, Absolutely Any Win32 CD player SW, u'll be annoyed by a pop saying you aren't connected to the internet & That You must Connect in order to Have Your CD Track Tags,,,, the SW will keep annoying U until U try to shut this service down from the Softwares settings.

Here, Just pop the CD in,, & THERE You Go, The Artist, the Album
Title, & The Entire LIST of all the Tracks!!!!!!!!!!! weather Your CD is original or a CD-R , HELL YA, Your Getting It ALL!

Well,Ok, not really, but it does with having Internet (Don't Tell Me that I might have connected,,, I DONT HAVE A FIXED PHONE LINE!), The Thing Goes That as well as Your CD-R was compiled using an Audio CD Burner from Files on Your PC, the Name of the Original Files U have burned Your CD from (& Dont worry, I'm not talking about CDs burned locally nor Files tracks that already exist on my PC) & If U happened to give a name of Artist & Album for Ur Compilation, Yes it will Appear ;)

& indeed if U happen to have copied from an Original CD, The Original CD Info will be inherited & will appear on the KsCD while playing the Copy, & indeed the Original CD, which will Sure been compiled & Made using high enough Tech so that U'll be able to get some Artist info embedded as well :)

Of Course KsCD have the Internet DB source as well, but simply without U getting annoyed by 10s of Pop Up Msg Boxes making U guilty of not being connected, khalas if no internet, thats it!
You too can get into this DB supporting KsCD, simply goto : http://freedb.org

it's just that this lil piece of SW stuck in my mind for all those years, & It really deserve to talk about.

Think Big, Think Linux, Cause there's a Penguin for Everyone ;)

PS: Despite KsCD is not a new Software or invention , I just wanted to talk about it for the respect I keen for it!